Slow and Steady Wins the Race
Plus - a rainbow bunny, silly monsters, and a big box of love
Progress!
We unpacked all our books this weekend!
They’re not alphabetized yet, but they’re not in boxes. So yay!
Our moving truck arrived almost a month ago, and - honestly - I thought we’d be settled in by now.
Not even close.
There aren’t many boxes left to unpack, but we’re far from settled in. There’s no art on the walls. We still have no hanging rods in our coat closet. We desperately need more lighting.
But all of that is ok because we keep making progress. And things are going slowly because we’re enjoying the process.
We could be “settling in” around the clock and be finished by now, but we’re also taking time to enjoy our new home. We’re trying out restaurants in the area. I’m tweaking the layout of my new studio as I create new work. We’re going for walks.
The last few days were the most Portland days we’ve spent so far. The weather was gorgeous on Friday! I had some drawing to do for a few new quilt blocks, so I took my tablet outside to the park across the street and did my drawing on a shady bench with this view.
I LOVE the sound of the water while I work - and five minutes after I snapped this photo the sound got even better - loads of kids splashing and laughing and having a great time. Delightful.
On Saturday we went to a Portland Thorns soccer game and on Sunday we saw the Timbers - both very fun. The stadium gets bonus points for having excellent food! And I love that we can walk to it. 🙂
My point is - you can accomplish a lot in small bits of time, and you don’t have to let a big project take over your life in order to make progress. Truly!
When we were at Malice Domestic we went to a session where Lori Rader-Day described how she wrote her first book on her lunch hours. She didn’t write in the evenings because she was tired after a day at work. And she didn’t write on the weekends because she had other things she wanted to do. But most days (not even every day) on her lunch hour? That worked! And in less than a year she had a first draft written.
Meg at Sew Liberated makes a lot of her own clothes, working around raising three kids and running a business. She talks about just doing a tiny bit at a time. One day she irons her fabric. One day she prepares the pattern. One day she cuts out the pieces. One day she transfers all the markings. Once she gets into sewing she says sometimes she sews just one seam in a day! It can feel like nothing in the moment, but it’s astounding how quickly those tiny bits of progress add up.
If you want to see exactly what that looks like for a quilting project, I wrote about the slow and steady progress on my Controlled Chaos quilt here.
Here’s what the finished quilt looks like.
It took a little over two years.
I love this bit of writing advice from John Steinbeck. I think it applies to everything - not just creative work.
Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day; it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.
If you have something big you want to accomplish, don’t be discouraged if you don’t have big chunks of time to commit to it. Just start! And aim for slow and steady progress. You can do it!
When you do finish your project - share it!
Ethel made this colorful bunny for her great-great-niece using the Bertie Bunny pattern. How cute is that?!
Marsha made this silly monster quilt for her grandson, using the Mix & Match Monsters pattern. I love all the 3D pieces she added! (There’s a free tutorial here.)
Tami made 25 cuddly fleece bears for a local shelter, using the free Warren the Charity Bear pattern. So much love!
Head over to the Shiny Happy People group on Facebook to see lots more wonderfulness people are making with my patterns—and to ask questions and share photos of your own projects. It’s my favorite place on the internet!
The archives and sale now have their own newsletter every Friday. Last week this link got more than three times as many clicks as any of the others. Promising to solve a universal problem is always popular, and this tip has saved me more than ten years of grief so far. 😂
If you know someone who’d like to read this, please share! 🥰
Happy stitching!
I hope you have a fabulous week!
Best,
Wendi
🥰
PS - I love this happy quilt from this year’s QuiltCon! Balloon animals are always such fun. 😍
If you’re looking for something fun for this coming Sunday check out The Rose City Folk Chorus + Singalong.
Yes I agree about pacing the work. When I start a quilt or applique pillowcase, I am desperate to finish it to see the result and I end up sewing at 2 in the morning. Not very clever.